Fastening mechanism for a handle

Abstract

A fastening mechanism for a handle on a cooking utensil should also have a releasable design for certain uses, for example, when the cooking utensil is heated up in a closed oven. A release and subsequent reconnection of a handle thereby should be done quickly and without effort, and the fastening mechanism for the handle moreover should be easy to manufacture. The fastening mechanism uses for this purpose an operating piece, which can be adjusted transversely with respect to the longitudinal extent of a handle piece in such a fastening mechanism. During the handling of which operating piece, a locking of the handle piece on a holding piece is released, which handle piece is covered by the handle piece and is connected to the cooking utensil. A renewed slipping over of the handle piece occurs against a light resiliency resulting from a transfer slope on a spring piece which also is used for the locking.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
       1. In a fastening mechanism for a handle for locking a handle piece in a position of use on a cooking utensil, said fastening mechanism having a metallic holding piece nonreleasably provided on the cooking utensil and projecting outwardly therefrom, said handle including a handle piece which has a recess for receiving said holding piece, and a spring piece which is fastened in said recess, extends along said recess, and is able to be coupled with said holding piece, said spring piece being automatically and positively lockable on said holding piece when said handle piece is moved over said holding piece and locks said handle piece to said holding piece in said position of use, comprising the improvement wherein an opening is provided in said handle piece and extending transversely with respect to a longitudinal extent of said handle piece and ending in said recess, wherein, in said opening, there is provided an operating piece secured to said handle piece and is supported for movement in said transversely extending opening in response to a gripping of said handle piece by a digit of a user's hand, with which operating piece said spring piece is biased and thereby unlocked from said holding piece to cancel the positive locking of said spring piece on said holding piece, and wherein a metallic tubular sleeve is stationarily fixed in said recess to thereby protectively line said recess, said sleeve including means for locking said spring piece in said recess. 
     
     
       2. The fastening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said spring piece comprises a holding leg and a flexible leg, the spring piece being stationarily held with said holding leg opposite said opening, and said flexible leg being formed as a one-arm lever with a first locking element creating the positive locking by cooperating with a second locking element constructed on said holding piece. 
     
     
       3. The fastening mechanism according to claim 2, wherein a sloped section is provided on said flexible leg, said sloped section being in contact with a transverse shoulder of said holding piece when said handle piece is moved thereon, and said sloped section thereby swinging said flexible leg increasingly out of a rest position against an increasing spring force until said first locking element falls into said second locking element on said holding piece under the influence of said spring force. 
     
     
       4. The fastening mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the flexible leg can be loaded at a free end piece thereof by means of the operating piece. 
     
     
       5. The fastening mechanism according to claim 2, wherein said recess has an essentially rectangular cross section. 
     
     
       6. The fastening mechanism according to claim 2, wherein said sleeve has a continuous longitudinal slot therein extending over an entire length of the sleeve opposite said opening and which is formed so as to be lightly resilient. 
     
     
       7. The fastening mechanism according to claim 6, wherein said recess has a longitudinal groove in a side of a wall thereof opposite said opening, and said holding leg of said spring piece being placeable in the longitudinal slot and being transversely lockable with respect to the longitudinal extent of said handle piece by said means for locking which includes adjoining wall pieces in the wall of said sleeve, said wall pieces being separated by said longitudinal slot and at least partially covering the holding leg. 
     
     
       8. The fastening mechanism according to claim 5 wherein said spring piece has a bent section between said holding leg and said flexible leg, wherein said means for locking, said sleeve has transverse slots in a wall opposite said opening and positioned transversely with respect to the longitudinal extent of said handle piece, and wherein at least said bent section is arranged in such a manner in one of the transverse slots that said spring piece is stationarily locked in said sleeve in the direction along the longitudinal extent of said handle piece. 
     
     
       9. The fastening mechanism according to claim 8 wherein the spring piece is bent at an end thereof remote from the operating piece into a flat piece erected so as to project from the flat holding piece, and the flat piece is arranged in a further one of the transverse slots which in turn stationarily locks the spring piece in the direction of the longitudinal extent of the handle piece in the sleeve. 
     
     
       10. The fastening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said recess has a front wall at an end opposite the end receiving said holding piece, wherein the sleeve has a locking piece near said opening of said handle piece, said locking piece being formed out of said sleeve by a notch and a bent section which springs back during a movement of said sleeve into said recess and falls thereafter barblike into said opening, and wherein said locking piece can fall into said opening when said sleeve hits the front wall of the recess. 
     
     
       11. The fastening mechanism according to claim 10, wherein said sleeve has an opening therethrough for receiving said operating piece corresponding to said opening of said handle piece when it is locked in said recess, and wherein said operating piece has a guiding groove on a front-side thereof and extending transversely with respect to a stroke of said operating piece, said guiding groove being directed toward and gripping over said locking piece, a first shoulder of said guiding groove on one side of said locking piece resting under the influence of said spring piece on said operating piece and a second shoulder of said guiding groove resting on an other side thereof to limit a stroke of said operating piece when said operating piece is operated. 
     
     
       12. The fastening mechanism according to claim 11, wherein the distance between said first and second shoulders is such that said stroke of said operating piece allows an unlocking of said locking elements. 
     
     
       13. The fastening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein on said operating piece extending in a direction of a stroke of said operating piece there are provided lateral guiding grooves gripping over at least one of bent sections and beads extending parallel to said lateral guiding grooves in adjacent walls of said sleeve and are readily shiftedly movable in same said guiding grooves. 
     
     
       14. The fastening mechanism according to claim 10, wherein said sleeve rests resiliently on said front wall of said recess and rests with said locking piece with a corresponding initial tension on said opening. 
     
     
       15. The fastening mechanism according to claim 14, wherein said sleeve has near said front wall of said recess at least one resilient cross-web supported on a bearing web formed so as to project at said front wall. 
     
     
       16. The fastening mechanism according to claim 15, wherein said cross-web is formed by a slot in said sleeve. 
     
     
       17. The fastening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said handle piece covers only incompletely said holding piece and a spacer sleeve is provided between said handle piece and said cooking utensil, which dresses said free part of said holding piece. 
     
     
       18. The fastening mechanism according to claim 17, wherein holding plates are provided on said metallic tubular sleeve, and said spacer sleeve is fastened to said holdings plates. 
     
     
       19. The fastening mechanism according to claim 17, wherein said spacer sleeve is fastened on said holding piece. 
     
     
       20. The fastening mechanism according to claim 17, wherein said spacer sleeve is fastened with frictional resistance. 
     
     
       21. The fastening mechanism according to claim 17, wherein said spacer sleeve has a closed hollow profile. 
     
     
       22. The fastening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said handle piece and said operating piece are each formed of one of a plastic and a metal. 
     
     
       23. The fastening mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said holding piece is formed with a U-shaped cross section having a connecting web and side arms, with holding noses being constructed on the connecting web, which said holding noses rest on a wall of said sleeve and lock said holding piece when said side arms rest on an oppositely lying, slotted wall of said sleeve.